Making chocolate chip cookies

[Meriweather]

I like to under bake mine by a couple of minutes.

 

[bcla]

Not really. The recipes I see call for a whole bag of chips and seem like it's about 1/4 chocolate. Now the one thing I insist on is using real butter.

 

[mrodgers]

Cakey? Maybe add another egg? It's the reverse of making cookies from cake mix, where you reduce the number of eggs. Are you using baking soda and baking powder? Baking powder will make a thicker* (but not necessarily cakier**) cookie*

*per this video

**per me

I've seen that video, and none of those look like the Nestles recipe from my childhood, that is what I want to make. I have hunted to try and see if the recipe changed any and can't find that info. Only difference is it use to be Crisco, but we didn't use Crisco when I was a kid either, it was butter.

I've hashed it out in cookie threads here in the past as well. I've tried every suggestion I've been given, they all come out thick and cakey. I even when I got divorced and was at my mother's for a bit, thought fantastic, I can try cookies on a gas oven now as that was the one thing I didn't have access to. No go.

I want thin and chewy with golden crispy edge. It's almost like the cookie part melts around the chocolate chips rather than the chips being in the cookie. No crunch at all, it should be a thin airy chewy center and I can not for the life of me get it right.

This is straight off the chip bag recipe and the same as I find in an internet search, but the just do not come out the way they did in my childhood. Remember the commercials back in the 80s and they would pull one in half fresh out of the oven and the chocolate would be gooey strings of melted chocolate hanging down, those are the ones I want to make and instead they always come out cakey.

 

[Diznygrl]

Ah, chocolate chip cookies are the simplest cookie but the hardest to get right. Funny, mine almost always come out too flat, no matter how much I try to prevent it. (Make sure the butter isn’t too soft, keep dough in refrigerator, extra tbsp of flour when not adding nuts, etc.) This year I added two extra tbsps of flour and they came out fat and cakey! Maybe next time I will only add a little over a tbsp of extra flour and they might come out perfect. It can also have something to do with the temperature/humidity/elevation of where you live, because sometimes they turn out better than other times even when not doing anything differently. It’s crazy!

I actually have the Alton Brown chocolate chip cookie episode on DVD but haven’t watched it in eons so I forget his advice. Maybe I need to bring it out before I make cookies next time to see if it’s helpful at all.

 

[NotUrsula]

Real vanilla extract, not the imitation crap, makes all the difference.

I didn't realize that the fake was still sold at retail. I guess my usual stores don't carry it. I mostly use either Lockhead ("Cooks" retail brand) or Penzey's. (I use rather a lot of vanilla, because I like to put it in hot cocoa.)

As for the cakeyness, I never have that, which is a good thing, because I like my cookies crisp; not chewy. FWIW, here are some of the rules I use when making them. 1) FRESH baking powder. I never keep an open can for more than 2 months, and once I've cracked the seal, I store it in the fridge with the top of it double-wrapped beneath the lid. 2) Always sift the flour. 3) Butter and eggs have been allowed to sit at room temp for at least 1 hour before I start mixing, and I always cut in the butter using a pastry blender.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

No! I prefer the dough part of the cookie, with very few chips. I add the normal amount of chips if I'm making them to share with others, but if it's just me and the kids I skimp on chips.

 

[Moliphino]

No! I prefer the dough part of the cookie, with very few chips. I add the normal amount of chips if I'm making them to share with others, but if it's just me and the kids I skimp on chips.

I keep meaning to try them sometime with no chips at all, but haven't done it yet.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I want thin and chewy with golden crispy edge. It's almost like the cookie part melts around the chocolate chips rather than the chips being in the cookie. No crunch at all, it should be a thin airy chewy center and I can not for the life of me get it right

Oh! Change the ratio of sugars - more brown, less white. I don't know my mom's recipe, and my sister claims she doesn't have it, but that sounds like what we had growing up.

 

[mrodgers]

Oh! Change the ratio of sugars - more brown, less white. I don't know my mom's recipe, and my sister claims she doesn't have it, but that sounds like what we had growing up.

Yup, that was in the Alton Brown show. I did change the ratio of sugar. Changed the quantities of sugar, changed the flour quantity, changed the flour itself, melted butter, soft butter, cold straight from the fridge butter, margarine, beat it senseless, beat it just enough to incorporate, 2 eggs, 1 egg, 3 eggs, I have tried everything and my chocolate chip cookies are terrible, LOL.

Like I said, I've done everything but use Crisco, but I know as a kid we used butter.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Nope. Keep experimenting with the sugar.

 

[focusondisney]

I've seen that video, and none of those look like the Nestles recipe from my childhood, that is what I want to make. I have hunted to try and see if the recipe changed any and can't find that info. Only difference is it use to be Crisco, but we didn't use Crisco when I was a kid either, it was butter.

I've hashed it out in cookie threads here in the past as well. I've tried every suggestion I've been given, they all come out thick and cakey. I even when I got divorced and was at my mother's for a bit, thought fantastic, I can try cookies on a gas oven now as that was the one thing I didn't have access to. No go.

I want thin and chewy with golden crispy edge. It's almost like the cookie part melts around the chocolate chips rather than the chips being in the cookie. No crunch at all, it should be a thin airy chewy center and I can not for the life of me get it right.

This is straight off the chip bag recipe and the same as I find in an internet search, but the just do not come out the way they did in my childhood. Remember the commercials back in the 80s and they would pull one in half fresh out of the oven and the chocolate would be gooey strings of melted chocolate hanging down, those are the ones I want to make and instead they always come out cakey.

I find the cookies come out different depending on which cookie sheet I bake them on. I have 2 good cookie sheets, almost exactly the same but I did buy them at different times. On 1 sheet, they come out thin & cripsie, on the other every batch is thicker & softer. I guess it must have something to do with the heat conduction of the particular cookie sheet?

I use the butter flavor Crisco for all my baking. Don’t think that makes a difference with the issue you have, but I do think it gives a good flavor to other baked goods I make.

 

[sharona]

I like a bit less than the Toll House recipe calls for but the rest of the family likes them with more. I typically put aside a small amount of batter mixed with fewer chips and make one batch for me and 3 for them!

The consistency is just how I like it if we use softened butter and fresh baking soda - firm but not hard. Also important to not over mix or the cookies get tough.

 

[MrsPete]

I don't add more of the same chips -- more isn't necessarily better; it's about the balance of flavors.

If I add more it'll be a different type of chip: could be a different flavor (peanut butter, butterscotch, whatever), could be mini-chips, which register a little differently, or it could be M&Ms. However, what I'd really rather do is add nuts. It's about layering the flavors, adding a different flavor instead of piling on more-more-more of the same thing.

If you want more-more-more chocolate, I go with a chocolate-cookie-with-chocolate-chips ... or an iced cookie ... or a sandwich cookie ... or a stuffed cookie; again, these are adding another layer of flavor rather than more of the same chip.

 

[MomOfDisneyPrincess]

I like to eat the raw batter before adding any chips. So, when I add the suggested amount of chips, the ratio is higher than normal, since a good portion of the batter is already gone. I also like my cookies half baked, so they are really ooey gooey!